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Serving soldier and self-confessed racist cleared of terrorism offence

A serving British soldier and white supremacist who kept a photo of himself giving a Nazi-style salute has been cleared of a terrorism offence.

Corporal Mikko Vehvilainen, who collected a host of legally-held weaponry, pleaded guilty to having a banned canister of CS gas, which he kept in the drawer of a home he was renovating.

He had a photograph at the property in Llansilin, Powys, Wales, which showed him giving a Nazi-type salute at a memorial to his native Finland’s independence, in 1917.

A Birmingham Crown Court jury cleared him on Thursday of possession of a terrorism document – the Anders Breivik manifesto – and two counts of stirring up racial hatred relating to forum posts on a white nationalist website.

Nazi salute
Vehvilainen kept a photo of himself performing a Nazi salute at a national memorial in his native Finland. (West Midlands Police/PA)

Licensed firearms holder Vehvilainen, of the Royal Anglian Regiment, was an Afghan veteran, Army boxer and a well-regarded non-commissioned officer.

Vehvilainen lived at barracks with his family at Sennybridge Camp, Brecon, where he kept a homemade target dummy in his garage, a container filled with 11 knives, knuckle-dusters, and a face mask and a box of Nazi flags – all legally-held.

Vehvilainen court case
Police discovered a box of Nazi swastika flags in a house belonging to the soldier. (West Midlands Police/PA)

He also customised Army-issue body armour, spray-painting it black, and had wiring and electrical parts capable of being made into a crude EMP (electro-magnetic pulse) device.

Further searches revealed a Hitler Youth knife and a ceremonial SS dagger, in the vein of the feared Second World War German paramilitary organisation.

Black mask
A black face mask belonging to Vehvilainen, recovered from a box in a garage at the Army base where he lived with his family. (West Midlands Police/PA)

Vehvilainen, who kept a licensed shotgun, a crossbow and bow and homemade arrows, had also written to two men jailed for race crimes, including a man convicted of making anti-Semitic remarks to Labour MP Luciana Berger, telling them “there is still hope”.

The married father penned a draft of an extreme right-wing magazine he entitled Extinction, railing against inter-race relationships, “unnatural” homosexuality and “non-whites”.

National Action court case
A target dummy made from tin foil and draped in camouflage material found in Vehvilainen’s garage at his Army barracks. (West Midlands Police/PA)

Vehvilainen’s barrister Pavlos Panayi QC told jurors, at the start of the trial, it was “not in dispute that he (Vehvilainen) is a racist”, but that it was not a crime simply to hold such views.

Vehvilainen’s phone also showed 900 visits to white nationalist website Cristogenea.org.

Knives
Several of the 11 knives Vehvilainen had in a box in his garage on the Army base at Sennybridge Camp in Powys, Wales. (West Midlands Police/PA)

Vehvilainen kept lists of weaponry and added to his collection, which prosecutor Duncan Atkinson QC told jurors was “putting into effect his repeated call, quite literally, to arms on the part of those who, like him, wanted to create a white-only society”.

An entry in a notebook found at Vehvilainen’s address, read: “Be prepared to fight and die for your race in a possible last stand for our survival.”

Mr Atkinson said: “The lists – and indeed the substantial quantity of weaponry recovered from his address – reveal and speak to his intention to stockpile weapons and other equipment in preparation for the ‘race war’ that he spoke of.”

Vehvilainen's weaponry
The cache of legally-held weaponry kept in Vehvilainen’s properties, including a shotgun and a warhammer inscribed with a cross. (West Midlands Police/PA)

In Vehvilainen’s wardrobe, where he kept his uniform, police found a Nazi flag pinned to the inside of the door.

When he opened its door, he turned to officers, saying: “That’s what this is about, isn’t it?”

Wardrobe
In Vehvilainen’s wardrobe, in which he kept his Army uniform, police found a Nazi flag pinned to the inside of the door. (West Midlands Police/PA)

On his arrest on September 5 last year, Vehvilainen told his wife: “I’m being arrested for being a patriot.”

He was on trial alongside 25-year-old Private Mark Barrett, also of the Royal Anglians, and formerly of Kendrew barracks, Cottesmore, Rutland.

Barrett was acquitted of a separate charge of membership of the proscribed far right organisation National Action, on Thursday.

Army-issued body armour, which Vehvilainen customised by spray-painting it black, along with plasti-cuffs and a head torch. (West Midlands Police/PA)

Also on trial was a 23-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, who was also cleared of having Breivik’s manifesto, but convicted of three other terrorism offences.

The male was found guilty of possession of a laptop “mega folder” which prosecutors said contained “step-by-step instructions” for killing people and the manufacture of explosives.

He was also convicted of having terrorism document the White Resistance Manual, which had entries on “arson, sabotage and selective assassinations”, and of distributing a terrorist publication, called Ethnic Cleansing Operations.

CS gas
The CS gas canister found in a drawer at Vehvilainen’s house. (West Midlands Police/PA)

When the jury delivered their verdicts, the male shouted: “It’s a complete sham.”

Vehvilainen and the other male, who are both in custody, will be sentenced on Friday.